The Death of Uncle Jerry Townsend

Detroit Free Press, March 4, 1899

I
doubt that this is a new revelation to anybody who has a deep knowledge
of the Wayne County Asylum & Eloise but it took me many years of
researching the institution before I finally made this connection. That
being, William Ganong, he of the cemetery fame, was the uncle of the
owner of the Black Horse Tavern which became part of the Wayne County
Poorhouse. Known as Uncle Jerry, he was a successful farmer and business
owner that fell on hard times and ended up at the Poorhouse where he
died in 1899. He and his wife Lavina Ganong Townsend are both buried at
the William Ganong Cemetery in unmarked or degraded graves. Which is
more proof that Eloise and Ganong Cemetery are and were inextricably
connected.

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A Dudley Randall Poem in Milestone 2

I bought this Milestone 2 poetry Magazine at a Livonia estate sale this week. Milestone was the literary publication of Wayne (State) University and this second issue dates to 1949. While I don't recognize most of the names, Dudley Randall was both a nationally known poet and the librarian for the Wayne County General Hospital at Eloise via the Wayne County Library System. The poem featured is The Southern Road which was a revised version of the completed poem from 1948 that h as a handful or two of word differences between the two. I don't know if Randall edited the poem for later collected works editions or earlier but this link features it in its likely final form in 2009. Neither version particularly enchants me but the block print in the magazine is an added bonus.

A Cabinet Card of a Dead Man Lying in Repose From Wayne Photographer Susan Doolittle

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Frederick Soop: Not An Equal Opportunity Restraunteer

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The Nankin Township Historical Society

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